STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

[MIKA27]

Casio Pro Trek PRW-7000

Casio have announced their new high-end analog-digital model, the Pro Trek PRW-7000 with 200M water resistance. The rugged adventure watch measures altitude, atmospheric pressure, compass bearing (auto horizontal compensation), and temperature. Alongside the usual Tough Solar and Triple Sensor features, it also has a tide indicator and displays moon age data, plus a fishing time function that displays the best times for fishing. Another useful outdoor feature is the sunrise and sunset time display. Expected for a July 2016 release

[MIKA27]

BIG GREEN EGG MINIMAX GRILL

Get all the legendary cooking prowess in a more manageable size with the Big Green Egg MiniMax Grill. This diminutive grill stands less than 20" tall, yet still manages to pack 133 square inches of cooking area inside, and uses the same patented air flow system to give you precise control over temps, whether you're grilling, smoking, or baking. It's also made from the same high-quality ceramics as its bigger siblings, so it's built to last, but still weighs nearly 100 lbs — making it less "portable" and more "movable" than its size would suggest.

[MIKA27]

Fast & Furious 8 tears up the streets of Havana in behind-the-scenes video

Vin Diesel and company are headed to Cuba in the next chapter of Fast & Furious, as revealed in a video posted to the film franchise's official Facebook page. The behind-the-scenes video teases the start of a drag race down the colorful streets of Havana - between two of those trademark vintage cars, naturally.

Diesel says Furious 8 is the "first global Hollywood movie" to be allowed to film in Cuba, presumably in decades. Hopefully he turns to the camera at some point in the film and delivers a sincere "Thanks Obama" for reopening diplomatic relations with the island nation. Maybe this is what that poster meant by traveling "new roads"?

Directed by F. Gary Gray and starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, and Jason Statham, Furious 8 will open in the US and in the UK on April 14, 2017.

[MIKA27]

DARPA's Mind-Controlled Arm Will Make You Wish You Were A Cyborg

When I asked Johnny Matheny if I could shake his hand, I was admittedly a little nervous. The soft-spoken Floridian lost his lower left arm to cancer eight years back. His new arm — an advanced, mind-controlled prosthetic developed by DARPA — can crush a human human skull like a child squeezing a mandarin.

Of course, Matheny is a professional, and he gave me a very controlled, firm handshake. While you’d never mistake the robotic, carbon fibre arm for its flesh-and-blood counterpart, in terms of dexterity, the two are pretty darn close. If we’re talking raw strength, the synthetic arm is far superior.

“This thing has as good a range of motion as a natural hand,” Matheny said in his charming southern twang, explaining how he could greet you with his right hand while opening a car door behind him with his left. “The only thing it can’t do is the Vulcan V,” he added, referring to the universal nerd pride gesture popularised by Star Trek.

Matheny is a bonafide cyborg — one of the most advanced in the world. The “Modular Prosthetic Limb” he was wearing when we met at a DARPA technology expo this week is a highly articulated, computer-driven device designed for full neural integration. That means it’s capable of receiving signals from the human brain and, paired with the right surgical implants, transmitting signals to the brain.

This is a far cry from the rigid, strap-on prosthetics tens of thousands of men and women wear today.Pairing an artificial limb with a organic brain is a dream straight out of science fiction, something DARPA proudly acknowledges. (In fact, DARPA and the company DEKA are working on another mind-controlled prosthetic arm that’s nicknamed “Luke” after Luke Skywalker.)

“The goal is really to capture the brain’s intent and turn it into motion very naturally,” said Justin Sanchez, director of the Biological Technologies Office at DARPA. Sanchez, who was at the Pentagon helping DARPA show off its badass prosthetics this week, explained that the Myo band Matheny was wearing around his upper arm picks up electrical signals from his muscles. Those signals are transmitted via Bluetooth to a computer inside the prosthetic arm, which drives motors inside the device.

Matheny has been test-driving prosthetics for DARPA since 2011, and his ability to interface with machines has gotten some major upgrades along the way. Years ago, he received targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR), a surgical procedure that reassigns nerves in a residual limb to make better use of a prosthetic replacement. In the autumn of 2015, Matheny became the first American with TMR to undergo osseointegration, another surgical procedure that allows him to connect prosthetic devices directly to the bone of his upper arm. When he first attached the Modular Prosthetic Limb via osseointegration last spring, the transformation was immediate. “Before, I had limited range; I couldn’t reach over my head and behind my back,” Matheny said at the time. “Now boom, that limitation is gone.”

And all of this is just the beginning. Pointing to his robotic fingertips, Matheny explained that they already contain tactile sensors capable of detecting texture, pressure, and temperature. But in order for Matheny to feel what his prosthetic arm feels, those signals have to reach his brain. In the not-too-distant future, another surgical procedure may enable this.

It entails implanting two small devices along nerves bundles in Matheny’s chest and back. These nerves, which are wired directly to the brain’s somatosensory cortex (a region where sensations are processed), would be stimulated based on information beamed wirelessly from the prosthetic hand. In essence, DARPA wants to create a closed circuit that melds synthetic and biological wires.

A prototype of an implantable device that receives signals from different muscle groups and transmits them to a robotic limb.

DARPA is working hard to fine-tune those sensory implants, in addition to implants that transmit information the other way to replace wearable devices like Myo. “The Myo band has to be calibrated every day, and it only offers so much control,” said Doug Weber, program manager at DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office. “Once you have smaller sensors that can be implanted into many muscles, you can get many more control channels. Instead of having to do things sequentially: moving my elbow, wrist, then fingers, I can do all of those things together.”

Early versions of these implantable devices are already being tested in humans. So far, the result are promising: the technology not only restores a sense of touch, it can dramatically reduce the phantom limb pain experienced by many amputees.

The life-changing impact of DARPA’s mind-controlled limbs was clear after spending just a few minutes with Matheny — as was the fact that we’ve barely scratched the surface of this technology’s potential. Devices like the Modular Prosthetic Limb may be expensive and experimental for now, but it’s not hard to imagine them becoming widespread in the future. In fact, I can’t help but wonder whether our cyborg descendants — sporting modular arms that fit tools of all shapes and sizes — will look back on the early 21st century and wonder how humans ever got on with two flimsy, organic meat sticks, equipped with only 10 fingers each.

[MIKA27]

Marvel's 'Agent Carter' Has Been Cancelled

Despite critical acclaim, Agent Carter is no more after the second season failed to attract the ratings it needed to continue.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the second season attracted a 1.4 rating among adults under 50 and 4.3 million total viewers with DVR, which wasn’t enough to ensure a third season.

Hayley Atwell will move on to her lead role in Conviction.

[MIKA27]

"TRUMP AGAINST HUMANITY" IS THE WORLD'S GREATEST PARTY GAME

Cards Against Humanity is everyone's favorite “party game for horrible people”. But now, inspired by Trump's attempted conquest of the free world, the game now has a very special expansion back.

Created by the Sid Lee Collective agency, the pack is called Trump Against Humanity and it's “a party game about a horrible person”.

Inspired by the many, many words spoken by the toupee wearing candidate, the pack is a roaring good time filled with incredibly catchy quotables such as “Make _ great again”, "Moving to Canda", and “Yuuuge”.

“We couldn’t make this **** up,” said the agency’s executive creative director, Jeffrey De Silva.

"We were looking for quotes that lent themselves to the most offensive, absurd, combinations that captured the same twisted sense of humor in Cards Against Humanity," Da Silva says.

"But Trump did most of the legwork for us, since he can’t seem to go long without saying something ridiculous."

This is the "must have" party game of the century! So how can you get your hands on a set?

Presently the cards are only running as a limited edition item and are only being given away by the agency to the first 100 people to sign up. But maybe if enough of use beg these creative geniuses to make more, the rest of the population can expect to be able to purchase this incredible game.

[MIKA27]

PLAYCADE RETRO ARCADE CONSOLE

Arcade gamers rejoice, the Playcade is here to turn your ordinary gaming platform into a legitimate arcade cabinet complete with the essential accessories including traditional buttons, joysticks and even light faux coin slots for authentic flair. It’s the best thing to hit the industry since arcade bars and since it’s small in stature and works with just about any console, you’ll never have to deal with those worn out machines again.

The Playcade works with PCs, laptops, and consoles such as Playstation and Xbox and comes as a kit with everything you need to the assemble the gaming rig. It includes twelve 30mm solid color Sanwa pushbuttons, two 24mm solid color Sanwa pushbuttons, a pair of Sanwa JLF joysticks with matte color ball tops, tow classic dimpled top push buttons with player legend, illuminating coin buttons, two-player arcade controller with daily chain ground and input cables, and speakers complete with an amplifier set. Wow. According to the creator, the kit only takes about 45 minutes to assemble and prices for the full cabinet kit are around $507 and $307 for the empty cabinet kit. Both are available now. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

Trayvax Element wallet

Trayvax wallets are built from the highest quality materials and assembled by hand in the USA. Their flagship Trayvax Element wallet carries minimally and ages elegantly, it is handcrafted from top grain oil tanned leather, mil-spec 550 paracord, and bead-blasted stainless steel. It offers RFID protection, features a bottle opener, and is designed to carry 3-10 cards and 1-5 folded bills either in your pocket or off a lanyard. Available in Canyon Red, Tobacco Brown and Mississippi Mud.

[MIKA27]

Rogue One Images Confirm New Ships, New Characters And A Major Cameo

Early versions of images from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: The Official Visual Story Guide have revealed a ton of information that we have been dying to know.

The German website Jedi-Bibliotek has some not-final pages from a new tie-in book called Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: The Official Visual Story Guide, which reveal new ships, new characters, give us names for characters we have met before — and might confirm the presence of a major Star Wars figure.

First off, we have two new ships to drool over. The Rebels continue to plunder the alphabet with the U-Wing, while the Empire adds the TIE Striker.

More importantly, we have names and descriptions for our team of Rebels. We knew Felicity Jones was Jyn Erso already, and we suspected that the droid spotted in the trailer was Alan Tudyk’s CGI character. But now we know for certain that it is, and it’s name is K-250, an Imperial model enforcer droid that somehow ends up on the Rebel’s side. Here’s the rest of the Rebel crew, via Jedi News:

• Diego Luna is Captain Cassian Andor, a Rebel Alliance Officer.
• Jiang Wen is Baze, a “freelance assassin”.
• Riz Ahmed is Bodhi, another rebel soldier.
• Donnie Yen is Chirrut, a “spiritual warrior”.
• Pao and Bistan, two “fierce warrior” alien characters, both with no actor names attached.

On the Imperial side, Ben Mendelssohn’s character has been named as Director Krennic. Krennic is an Imperial “military director” clearly tasked with standing between the Rebels and the “secret” Death Star. The page also identifies the black Stormtroopers as Death Troopers:

We’re still missing Mads Mikkelsen’s character name — probably “Something Erso”, given that he’s supposed to be Jyn’s father — and Forest Whitaker. Some of this text isn’t finalised yet, so the generic descriptions could be placeholders for something new. But the big reveal is Darth Vader appearing, seeming to confirm the rumours that he’s in Rogue One:

And what a looming presence he is.

[MIKA27]

Construction Workers Discover Ancient Roman Ruins

If you build a new Metro line in Rome, you have to worry about more than just engineering. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the construction team working on the Metro C, which will run through the centre of the city, has now unearthed a huge suite of ancient barracks.

Associated Press reports that the ancient Roman ruins date back to the reign of Emperor Hadrian, in the second century AD. The buildings are thought to be the barracks for the Roman Praetorian guards, and the site could cover as much as 900 square metres. One of the uncovered sections includes a 100m hallway with 39 rooms. It looks pretty, but it’s sure going to put a dent on the opening date of the new line.

[MIKA27]

Amazing Train Driver Sprints Through Cars To Warn Of Inevitable Crash

When a Polish train driver noticed a truck blocking part of the track ahead of his vehicle, he didn’t have time to bring the carriages to a stop before impact. So he used the three seconds he had to sprint through the train, warning passengers of the impact.

The BBC reports that the impact occurred while the train was travelling at 100km/h. It’s thought that nobody was badly injured, which is surely in part down to his warning the passengers in the front section of the train that the impact was about to occur, giving them time to hunker down for protection. What an amazing guy.

[MIKA27]

The Next Transformers Movie Is Called 'The Last Knight'

There’s another Transformers movie coming out? Yep, of course there is, and it’s called The Last Knight. That’s just about as much as we know from the 30-second teaser just released to the world.

Transformers: The Last Knight begins production in June this year, and the studio is targeting an optimistically short film and development cycle with an Aussie premiere targeted for June 22, 2017.

[Fuzz]

Rogue One Images Confirm New Ships, New Characters And A Major Cameo

With a name like Death Troopers, one hopes that these guys will actually be able to shoot and hit their intended targets.... and not get humiliated by 3' tall primitive furballs.

[MIKA27]

The Latest Trailer For Steven Spielberg's BFG Shows Off A Giant World

The latest trailer for Steven Spielberg’s BFG has hit the web, not long after the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this weekend. It shows off a big world with a whole lot of unfriendly giants.

Where the first trailer focused mainly on Sophie meeting the BFG, this one shows off some of the perils of the world, where much larger giants roam, as well as a taste of the adventures that they embark on.

[MIKA27]

Tanner Goods Cargo Carryall

Tanner Goods latest bag, the Cargo Carryall, is a robust utility bag inspired by the deployment duffels and seabags utilized by the military and navy for decades. This rugged version keeps the stuff sack idea intact, but have constructed it from heavy duty 18oz olive cotton canvas, and have equipped it with a clash hook, duffle keeper and grommet hardware. With a generous central cavity, the Cargo Carryall is the perfect companion to transport all your belongings with ease.

[MIKA27]

PILOT TRANSLATING EARPHONES

It sounds like science fiction: the ability to converse with someone speaking a different language without needing to know it. Yet that's exactly the future Pilot Translating Earphones promise. The world's first smart earpiece to translate between people speaking different languages in real time, it comes with a second earpiece for listening to music, uses a companion app to toggle between languages, and most importantly can function offline, so you're not at the mercy of your Internet connection. European-based Romantic and Germanic languages will receive support first, with other world languages following, and adding new ones is as simple as downloading a song.

[MIKA27]

CREED GREEN IRISH TWEED COLOGNE

Encased in a matte black flask, Creed Green Irish Tweed Cologne is as classic as its packaging. The legendary scent has been a regular on red carpets since making its debut in the '80s. Composed by sixth-generation Master perfumer Olivier Creed, its notes of sandalwood, florentine iris, and french verbena give off a rich woodsy fragrance that'll leave you smelling like Clooney.

[MIKA27]

Why Roland Emmerich Had To Wait 20 Years To Finally Make Independence Day: Resurgence

When Independence Day: Resurgence hits theatres on June 23, 20 years (almost exactly!) will have passed both on screen and off since the first film. That’s a long time, but for co-writer and director Roland Emmerich, the wait was a necessary evil.

After the original Independence Day became the biggest movie of 1996, everyone began clamoring for a sequel. Emmerich had some ideas but quickly realised those ideas were so big, they weren’t yet possible. In fact, it wasn’t until 2009, when Emmerich made the disaster film 2012 with digital cameras and a lot of bluescreen, that he realised he could finally bring his ID4 sequel ideas to life. Technology had caught up with his vision.

“I had one big idea [for the movie] which was to create a totally different world that’s enhanced by alien technology and that the whole world was united,” Emmerich told us. “Secondly, I said ‘OK, so, the Mothership this time, comes down to Earth and it’s as big as the Atlantic Ocean.’ These two ideas pretty much drive the film.”

Several members of the original film’s cast have also returned to help bring Emmerich’s vision to life. Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Brent Spiner and Vivica A. Fox all reprise their roles. Unfortunately the star of the first film, Will Smith, declined to return for the sequel, so Emmerich had his character die in the interim between the two movies, which was explained in a viral campaign.

Though he obviously would have loved for Smith to return, Emmerich isn’t concerned by the actor’s absence. It’s not a big part of the movie. “We tell the story of the stepson [played by Jessie Usher], who grew up in the shadow of a very prominent father,” Emmerich said. “That is the story.”

Usher will be joined by fellow newcomers Liam Hemsworth, playing a fellow pilot, and Maika Monroe as the daughter of the former president played by Bill Pullman. (A very young Mae Whitman played the role in ID4, but declined to return this time because she didn’t want to read for the part, according to Emmerich. Messages to Whitman’s representatives went unanswered as of press time.)

Will Smith aside, another huge change from the original is that Resurgence lacks the rah-rah patriotism that gave the first ID4 movie much of its heart. “This time we tried to stay away from as much of [that patriotism] as we could,” Emmerich explained. “It’s a little bit more complicated than other films, structurally, and naturally we have more characters than in the first one, because we have some sort of a hand-off from older to younger generations.”

So will this new generation eventually make way for an even newer generation down the line? Emmerich doesn’t deny more Independence Day films could be on the way.

“OK, so it could be a franchise but I’m not planning the next one already,” he promised. “Maybe in another 20 years!”

And though the 20 years since the first film allowed the world to catch up to Emmerich’s ambition, it seemingly put a lot of pressure on him. A sequel to Independence Day brings a massive level of expectations, but that doesn’t phase the director.

“I just make my movies,” Emmerich said. “You shouldn’t think too much about that kind of stuff as a filmmaker because it only screws with your head. I’m just trying to tell a good story and make my movie.”

Independence Day Resurgence opens June 23.

[MIKA27]

How Sweden Is Relocating An Entire City

Kiruna, the northernmost city in Sweden, is sinking. In fact, by 2050, most of its structures will have collapsed into the iron mines below it. So engineers have embarked upon an ambitious project to move Kiruna — along with its 20,000 residents — 3km to the east. A new documentary explains exactly how they plan to do it.

Back in 2004, knowing the city was doomed to sink into the mines below (a process known as “deformation”), the state-owned mining company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB held a splashy global design competition to find the best idea for moving Kiruna. Architects at White Arkitekter AB won the competition for their plan Kiruna 4 Ever and broke ground on the new city in 2014. All of the residents will be completely moved within two decades.

This Is Kiruna: How to Move a City is a delightful little film made by the Swedish government that focuses on the massive infrastructural effort required to relocate a city — and one above the Arctic Circle no less, where it’s very cold, covered in deep snow and completely dark for some of the year.

Only three historical structures will actually be moved — the rest will be “recycled” with their materials reclaimed for use in new construction. There’s also an explanation for how everyone gets re-housed: Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB is giving the owners of sinking properties a choice. It will either buy these homes at market value plus 25 per cent or offer residents a brand-new home for free in a new part of town. (Renters will get subsidised rent to help them transition into what will likely be more expensive buildings.) Continuing to mine the valuable iron ore from below the old Kiruna will supposedly keep the city economically flush — although not everyone believes this will be the case.

What’s most amazing to see in this film is how casual the residents are about the prospect of uprooting their lives. I feel like a similar plan in the United States would be a political disaster rife with protests and lawsuits. But I think this is largely a credit to the great care that Sweden has taken to make sure that Kiruna’s citizens are upgrading to a better urban experience.

When I spoke with one of the firm’s principals two years ago, it was intriguing to hear how this was a chance to fix many of the existing city’s problems. Namely, it’s an opportunity to build a denser, more compact centre, but it’s also about proving to residents that an improved city design can better meet their daily needs, says architect Mark Szulgit. “The biggest challenge is to move the minds of the people.”

[MIKA27]

New Final Fantasy XV Trailer Shows Off The Game's Glorious Environments

Final Fantasy XV is coming this September. After all the time spent waiting, that fact alone is almost surreal.

It also means we’re about to start seeing more of the game in the months before release.

Like this trailer, which focuses on the game’s environments. It’s a little bit gorgeous.

I’ve tried and failed to get into Final Fantasy games in the past. The game I spent most time with was Final Fantasy X. I think I’ll give it another chance with Final Fantasy XV.

BONUS TRAILER OF THE GAME:

[MIKA27]

King Arthur’s Tomb May Have Been Found

Broadway’sHistorical detective and best-selling author Graham Phillips has been researching the history of King Arthur for decades. He, as well as many others, believe that the legendary Welsh king was real and that he is buried in one of two places in England.

This is interesting because a historical marker places King Arthur’s burial place at Glastonbury Abbey. In 1191, monks at the abbey claimed to have discovered a grave with an oak coffin holding the remains of a gigantic man who had been severely wounded in the head. Buried beside him was a woman with a plait of golden hair. Also found was lead cross bearing the inscription, “Here lies buried the famous King Arthur with Guinevere his second wife, in the Isle of Avalon.” The site had become a place of pilgrimage, though there were doubts about the identity of the remains. The monks had financial problems and the site brought in much needed income. The royal family had political reasons for agreeing that the gravesite was real.

A 1962 archaeological dig, however, found evidence that the tomb had been disturbed. Since then, other burial spots have been claimed to hold the remains.

Phillips is convinced that one of two sites actually hold the royal remains. One location is in the earthworks outside of the village of the medieval village Baschurch in Shropshire. He explains,

From my research, he came from Shropshire, not south-west of England as everyone else says. In the Oxford University Library there is a poem from the Dark Ages which refers to the kings from Wroxeter (a Roman fortress) who were buried at the Churches of Bassa – and when you think about anywhere in Shropshire that sounds similar, you think of Baschurch. There is a place that matches the description just outside the village, an earthworks known as The Berth, which were two islands in a lake, though obviously the lake has gone now.

An aerial photograph of “The Berth” site.

Phillips said that excavations have not yet taken place but that the grave pit shows an outline and a large piece of metal, be believes is Arthur’s metal shield, as monarchs at the time were buried with their shield. He says,

At the moment I’m trying to get permission from English Heritage for an archaeological dig, but they don’t often give that because they want to protect the site. With technology moving forward, in the not-so-distant future, we may be able to see what is in there without digging. But I believe it is absolutely necessary because otherwise other people might go there and destroy the site.

Another site also on Phillips’ radar is down a country lane in the village of Birch Grove, where evidence of an old chapel were discovered in the 1930’s. He says,

In some versions of the tale of King Arthur, he died on an island, but was brought back to shore for burial. So it is possible and when they found the remains, they found part of a gravestone with Latin writing that appears to translate to “Here lies.” It would be easier to get permission to dig there because it is not protected, so that could take place very soon.

The thought of finding King Arthur’s burial site is exciting. However, some scholars would argue that you cannot locate the burial site of someone who never existed, except in the imaginations of folklore. After all, King Arthur is not mentioned in any documents written between 400 and 820, nor in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

However, two old journals, History of Britons (Historia Brittonum) and Welsh Annals (Annales Cambriae) mention King Arthur as a real Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo Saxons in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. It is also mentioned that during the 9th century, he fought in 12 battles, including the Battle of Mons Badonicus.

Archaeologists have also uncovered sites that may show evidence of his existence. A slate engraved with the word “Artoghou” was found at Tintangle Castle, long thought to be Arthur’s birthplace, in 1998. Silchester, the supposed site of his coronation bears the Roman name of Calleba, similar to the name Excalibur, his famous sword.

Archaeologists also excavated the site of battle at Heronbidge, revealing an amphitheater that was fortified with a shrine to a Christian Martyr in its center. This find fits the description of Arthur’s round table, which is said to have been large enough to seat 1,600 of his warriors.

Time will tell whether the recent discoveries of burial places prove the existence of the legendary king and his beloved wife. Either way, Camelot exists in myth even if not in reality.

[MIKA27]

Who Stole a Rolex Off the Dying Tony Soprano?

In the desperate final minutes of James Gandolfini’s life, someone slipped a $3,000 Rolex off the actor’s wrist. Who would stoop so low? Prosecutors in Rome say they have their man.

ROME — Stealing an expensive Rolex off the corpse of a foe is just the type of thing one might envision Tony Soprano ordering one of his petty thugs to carry out. Instead, James Gandolfini, the actor who played Soprano in the popular Mafia series The Sopranos, was the apparent victim of a similar postmortem robbery.

On June 19, 2013, a few minutes after Gandolfini’s 13-year-old son alerted the reception desk at Rome’s Boscolo Exedera Hotel that his father had collapsed on the bathroom floor of their top-floor suite, a paramedic apparently swiped the timepiece from the dying actor.

The paramedic, Claudio Bevilacqua, who was also the driver of one of two ambulances that responded to the scene, was called to trial in Rome this week on charges of aggravated robbery of Gandolfini’s $3,000 Rolex Submariner, which he allegedly stole while taking the pulse of the dying superstar. According to police reports, efforts to resuscitate Gandolfini were well underway when the theft allegedly occurred.

Gandolfini, 51, suffered a massive heart attack while in the master bathroom of the suite he shared with his son as they waited for the arrival of wife Deborah Lin, who was set to join them on an Italian holiday before the actor was scheduled to be a keynote speaker at the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily.

Gandolfini was still alive when he was taken to the Policlinico Umberto I hospital in Rome, but died shortly after arrival. Bevilacqua is not being charged with medical malpractice and is not believed to have impeded efforts to save the dying star.

Members of Gandolfini’s family noted that the watch was missing and reported it to authorities and to their insurance company. An Italian police investigation into the alleged theft included surveillance-camera footage from the hotel corridor and testimony from two hotel security personnel, who told investigators that Gandolfini was not wearing the watch when he was removed from the luxury hotel. One of the security guards who arrived first in Gandolfini’s room noted that the actor was wearing his expensive timepiece before paramedics arrived.

One of the security guards told police that he overheard the paramedics discussing Gandolfini’s watch, according to La Repubblica newspaper. “He no longer has his watch on his wrist,” one paramedic said to Bevilacqua, according to the security guard.

Bevilacqua reportedly responded, “Now let’s try to save his life, then someone can worry about the theft.”

Bevilacqua did not appear in court this week and his lawyers did not enter any plea of guilt or innocence. The opening hearing was adjourned and the trial will begin in November. Bevilacqua faces a hefty fine and as much as five years in prison if convicted.

[MIKA27]

POCKET TRIPOD

Back in 2013, we were first introduced to the Pocket Tripod, the portable card that transformed into a stabilizing tripod to shoot photos and video with your iPhone; truly one of those insanely simple moments where we wish we would have thought of it first. However, there was one caveat: the pocket tripod was only compatible with Apple iPhones. That is until now.

That’s right, they’re back on Kickstarter with an updated design that caters to eclectic phone owners across the world. Now working with both Android and iPhone cases the card-sized tripod can also adjust to any angle. No more holding the phone, literally, while face-timing or attempting to capture time-lapse video. Also, taking a high-quality photo has never been easier since it holds your device in both portrait and landscape and separates for an unobstructed view. And worrying about storage isn’t necessary either. When folded, the Pocket Tripod is not bigger that a standard credit card. Be sure to check out their Kickstarter for more info. Reservations for the product start at $18. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

CARLSBERG FATHER OF LAGER BEER

The introduction of pure yeast to beer brewers in 1833 by Carlsberg changed the landscape of brewing as we know it today. And now, thanks to the discovery of a 133-year-old bottle found in their cellars, Carlsberg has re-created that landmark beer, dubbed Carlsberg Father of Lager Beer. Up until pure yeast was introduced to brewers, beer of consistent quality was non-existant, so all beer brewers today owe the Carlsberg team a debt of gratitude. Father of Lager Beer was created using yeast extracted from the 1833 bottle and is your chance to get a taste of beer history.

[MIKA27]

Wonderfully Weird Short Film Mixes Together Alfred Hitchcock and Star Wars

Fabrice Mathieu turned Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest into a film that includes Star Wars characters and it’s totally bizarre and so weird that ... I kind of like it? I mean, it’s just stupid fun to see Cary Grant run away from a TIE fighter, and stare at R2-D2, and wonder where in the hell he is with all this technology from a galaxy far, far away.